Page 5 of De-Witched

And then he did. “What you would do if there were no consequences.”

The surge of desire drained any rational thought from her. Like it belonged to someone else, she saw her hand close over his neckcloth, using it to pull him down. Their lips had barely touched, a sizzle of anticipation in her blood, when the glass doors banged open.

“There you are.”

Leah jumped away from Goodnight as if he’d burst into flame. Her gaze swung. “Kole,” she squeaked. “Hi. Hello. There you are, too. We were just...” She blinked fast. “This is...”

“Lord Goodnight.” Kole’s voice was as sharp as a blade, his glare even sharper.

Lord? She liked that.

With the doors open, the cozy silence was blasted apart by the thirty-piece orchestra playing to the crowd. When Leah had first seen the opulent ballroom with its gleaming floor, floating chandeliers and white columns around which ruby roses climbed, she’d almost swallowed her tongue. Her family wasn’t poor by any means, but even they didn’t have ballrooms.

Still, everything else paled next to meeting her warlock. Something Kole seemed to take great exception to as he stiffly walked forward and flung his arm around her shoulders. The gesture wasn’t unusual, both of them touchy, affectionate people.

But the last thing Leah wanted was to give her warlock the wrong idea. Unfortunately, when she tried to sidle away, Kole tightened his hold.

She elbowed him in the side and he grunted, stubbornly keeping his arm in place.

Goodnight fell back with the new arrival, eyes darting between Leah and Kole. Then he gave a clipped nod. “Lord Bluewater.”

“Didn’t realize you had time to socialize, with the business and all.”

“Family obligations.”

“Naturally,” Kole mocked.

Nothing moved an inch on Goodnight’s face but Leah felt his annoyance like a whisper across her cheek.

He faced Leah and pressed a hand to his chest, bowed. She noticed the glint of a ring on his pinkie as he straightened. “Thank you for being a stranger with me.” His voice was toneless but soft.

Her smile bloomed. “Anytime.”

He didn’t go through the doors to the party, instead retreating the way he came. Leah stared after him as Kole muttered a curse and dropped his arm. When she went to speak, he held up a hand, casting his other up and around. Something sparked, a faint white light that covered them like a translucent globe. She’d seen it before; soundproofing spell.

His eyebrows were tight when he rounded on her. “What did we say, Leah?”

She ignored him. “Who was that?”

Kole didn’t wear a mask so his frustration was easy to read. All signs pointed to pissed. “What did we say? Don’t draw attention.”

“I wasn’t.” She chose not to mention Laurence and the punch. “We were just—”

“Yeah, I saw what you and Gabriel Goodnight were just.” Rich brown eyes that matched his hair raked her with a hot glance. “Don’t you have any common sense?”

“Nothing about me is common.” She tweaked his nose, smiling when he batted her hand away. “Gabriel Goodnight? You have to be making that up. Sounds like he belongs in a fairy tale.”

“Yeah, well, if this was a fairy tale, he’d be a villain.”

Her heart dove. “No,” she denied. “He was so nice.” And he’d come to her rescue.

Kole laughed, then scrubbed his face. “Goddess. I can’t leave you unsupervised for one minute. I knew this was a bad idea, especially Sloane coming, too.” Sloane was Emma’s half-witch sister, who’d been as sheltered from this world as Leah was. When they’d relented about Leah, Sloane had insisted on being her plus-one.

Leah looked past him. “How is she? I don’t see you lecturing her.”

Kole pinched her chin, pulling her attention back. “She’s dancing with Bastian. Leah, you could’ve been found out. You get that, right?”

“But I didn’t. It’s all good.”

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